Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Departed

Holy cow - The Departed won the Best Picture Oscar! That's simply amazing. There wasn't any clear cut frontrunner but I had expected, with the Best Director Oscar going to Scorsese, The Departed was a longshot. Scorsese has to be beside himself with joy over this victory. A hugely successful film, The Departed not only won over audiences but also won over the critics - a combination that's hard to pull off.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese for The Departed

Wow, Martin Scorsese finally won an Academy Award. Scorsese received the loudest applause and the longest standing ovation of the night. Scorsese joked, "Could you double check the envelope?" The filmmaker had a lot of thank yous stored up for this occasion and he's a talker anyway, so keeping him to 45 seconds would never have worked. Scorsese made a point of mentioning the six and a half years of work he's done with Leonardo DiCaprio, along with thanking every member of his large ensemble cast. As soon as he was offstage he received a huge bear hug from The Departed cast member Jack Nicholson.

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland

And the Oscar goes to...Forest Whitaker! The man's performance was so good he made Idi Amin look halfway sympathetic in The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker took a few moments to catch his breath onstage before nervously referring to his thank you speech. Whitaker delivered one of the better and most heartfelt speeches of the evening when he discussed why he wanted to be an actor in the first place. Interesting note: Ryan Gosling and Leonard DiCaprio were immediately on their feet clapping as soon as Whitaker's name was read.

Best Actress
Helen Mirren for The Queen

Last year's Best Actor winner Philip Seymour Hoffman did his Oscar duty in a very subdued manner, handing the Best Actress Academy Award to the person everyone assumed would win - Helen Mirren. Mirren said it's a huge honor and the biggest and best gold star she's ever been given in her life. She shared her award with her fellow nominees as well as the cast and crew of The Queen and the real woman who inspired her performance. Hoisting her Oscar above her head, Mirren said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Queen."

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls

George Clooney's not nominated this year but he did get to present the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls. Hudson was incredibly emotional and said her deceased grandmother was her inspiration for everything. She thanked her mom and her family for all their support, director Bill Condon for his work, and God for everything else. Hudson managed to yell a thanks to Jennifer Holliday before clutching her Oscar and leaving the stage.

Animated Feature Film
Happy Feet

Foreign Language Film
The Lives of Others

Adapted Screenplay
The Departed

Original Screenplay
Little Miss Sunshine

Matthew Broderick's ex-personal assistant Michael Arndt earns his first Oscar for writing Little Miss Sunshine, the incredible story of an extremely dysfunctional family that travels across country in a VW bus with a broken clutch. Arndt revealed the story was inspired by a roadtrip he took decades ago with his family.

Art Direction
Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography
Pan's Labyrinth

Costume Design
Marie Antoinette

Documentary Feature
An Inconvenient Truth

Jerry Seinfeld did a good job of loosening up the audience before delivering the Documentary Feature Film Academy Award to An Inconvenient Truth. The filmmakers accepting the award said they were moved to act by Al Gore's fight to tell the truth. It was just surreal to hear Gore say, "I want to thank the Academy..."

Documentary Short Subject
The Blood of Yingzhou District

Film Editing
The Departed

Martin Scorsese's longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker won the Best Editing Oscar for The Departed. People really love this woman and it's not a shock at all that Schoonmaker won for her work on Scorsese's latest mob drama. Schoonmaker said working with Scorsese is like "being in the best film school in the world." Here, here. Schoonmaker's been nominated a total of six times (all but one were for her work with Scorsese) and has now won three Oscars.

Makeup
Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score
Babel

Santaolalla said he was so proud to work on a film which helps us better understand who we are. He dedicated the award to his father in Argentina. It should be noted that Santaolalla won this award last year for Brokeback Mountain. He's on a roll right now.

Original Song
"I Need to Wake Up" — An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge accepted the Original Song Oscar from Travolta and Queen Latifah, thanking her wife, four children and Al Gore for inspiring her. Etheridge said it's not about Republicans or Democrats but about needing to change to protect the environment.

Animated Short Film
The Danish Poet

Live Action Short Film
West Bank Story

Sound Editing
Letters from Iwo Jima

Sound Mixing
Dreamgirls

Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Sherry Lansing

Academy Honorary Award
Ennio Morricone

So, that's four for The Departed, three for Pan's Labyrinth, and two each for Dreamgirls and Little Miss Sunshine. The Academy really spread the wealth around this year.

Now I need to get some sleep...